A friend who dies, it’s something of you who dies.
Life is so horrible that one can only bear it by avoiding it. And that can be done by living in the world of art.
Only three things are infinite. The sky in its stars, the sea in its drops of water, and the heart in its tears.
What an awful thing life is, isn’t it? It’s like soup with lots of hairs floating on the surface. You have to eat it nevertheless.
The more humanity advances, the more it is degraded.
My foregrounds are imaginary, my backgrounds real.
Love is a springtime plant that perfumes everything with its hope, even the ruins to which it clings.
You don’t know what it is to stay a whole day with your head in your hands trying to squeeze your unfortunate brain so as to find a word.
For him the universe did not extend beyond the circumference of her petticoat.
I have the handicap of being born with a special language to which I alone have the key.
Our ignorance of history causes us to slander our own times.
I invite all brats to throw their cookies at the baker’s head if they’re not sweet, winos to chuck their wine if it’s bad, the dying to shuck their souls when they croak, and men to throw their existence in God’s face when it’s bitter.
There are three thing in the world I love most: the sea, Hamlet, and Don Giovanni.
A thing derided is a thing dead; a laughing man is stronger than a suffering man.
Anything becomes interesting if you look at it long enough.
One must always hope when one is desperate, and doubt when one hopes.
A memory is a beautiful thing, it’s almost a desire that you miss.
Madame Bovary is myself.
If you knew all the dreams I’ve dreamed!
They took each other’s advice, opened one book, went over to another, then did not know what to decide when opinions diverged so widely.